Jul 17, 2007

Not My Job..!

Patrick Fitzgerald, the Chicago-based U.S. attorney, will make an appearance on Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me!, the Chicago-based Saturday comical hour on National Public Radio.

With national fame earned from his role as special counsel in the leak of a CIA agent's identity and his prosecution of former White House aide Lewis "Scooter'' Libby for obstruction of justice in that investigation, Fitzgerald will take a seat on the nationally broadcast radio program as someone pressed to talk about something he knows nothing about.

In the "Not My Job'' segment of the show, celebrities are quizzed out of field.Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer faced questioning about the habits of rock stars. Elizabeth Edwards, wife of the former senator from North Carolina, John Edwards, seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, was asked about celebrity rehab treatment. Ted Koppel, the longtime host of ABC's Nightline, was quizzed about the box-office bust, Sahara.

“Several times recently I thought about getting tickets to go watch it, but never got it done,” Fitzgerald is quoted as saying about the show. “Now I know I have a seat.”

While Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! takes the show on the road sometimes, its home base is Chicago. And Fitzgerald, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, will be close to home when it’s taped this week in the city’s Millennium Park.

The show is aired by 425 member stations -- the first media appearance for Fitzgerald since Libby's conviction and then commutation of his prison time by the president.

"We're going to subject Patrick Fitzgerald to the rigors of our quiz, and whether he wins or loses is entirely up to him,” says show host Peter Sagal. "Of course, if he does lose, we expect the president to intervene and change the result. It'd only be fair, right?"

Airing the weekend of July 21-22 on NPR Member stations nationwide. It will be available as an NPR podcast beginning Sunday, July 22, at 7 p.m. at www.NPR.org.

53 Comments:

"Airing the weekend of July 21-22 on NPR Member stations nationwide. It will be available as an NPR podcast beginning Sunday, July 22, at 7 p.m.'

That will be interesting. Unfortunately, I will be out of town this weekend. So, I will miss hearing about that. I will catch the highlights next week. Of course, the bloggers will fill in the potholes..

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) -- representing trade unions and trades councils from the whole island of Ireland -- have today passed two motions on Palestine that are extremely critical of the actions of the Israeli government in its oppression of the Palestinian people. The two motions condemn Israel for its human rights abuses, its policy of ethnic cleansing and its war crimes. The motions have been proposed by Belfast Trades Council and by Derry Trades Council. Both motions go into considerable detail about the suffering endured by the Palestinian people under Israeli occupation. Conference also criticizes the British and Irish governments and the European Union for the failed policy of "constructive engagement." It characterizes EU policy as one of as "appeasement," and in particular criticises the EU for failing to end the preferential trading status granted to Israel under the Euro-Mediterranean Association Agreement -- as it is formally obligated to do under the human rights clause in Article 2 of that agreement.

In voting for the motions Conference has not only brought to the attention of the world the massive and enduring injustices being carried out by the Israeli state and by those who collude with it -- companies such as Caterpillar and Irish Cement Roadholdings -- but it has also authorized the leadership of the Irish trade union movement to undertake a wide range of measures to oppose such oppressive actions and to register its solidarity. These include a commitment to "actively and vigorously" promote a policy of boycott and of divestment, to make direct representations to government and to the EU, and to mobilize EU-wide trade union solidarity action. Conference also called upon ICTU to send a senior delegation to the Palestinian territories to establish solidarity links. It also welcomed the establishment by ICTU of Trade Union Friends of Palestine.

The ICTU is the largest mass organization of the Irish working class. It represents all sections of labor -- from low-paid to senior management -- and all sectors of industry and employment. At its last Biennial Delegate Conference in 2005 the ICTU commited itself to "campaign in solidarity with the Palestinian people." In its actions today conference has put meat on the bones of that policy. It is highly significant and it should be noted that there was no opposition at all to any of the motions, despite the fact that they represent what must be one of the strongest positions adopted by any trade union congress in the world. Today's conference has thereby demonstrated that all sections of the Irish working class and of Irish civil society continue to be appalled at the inhumanity of Israeli state policy. It demonstrates that the people of Ireland -- north and south -- are steadfast in their commitment to stand in solidarity alongside their long-suffering and heroic Palestinian brothers and sisters.

I picked the wrong time to vacation. If I had planned my vacation in July I could have met Randall and Fitz. Yes the Chicago isn't that far form the Millennium Park. Well maybe as I travel I might get to see Fitz at an airport with all his traveling. I'm sure NPR will get alot more viewers with Fitz as a guest.

Bloomberg News reported yesterday that the put-to-call ratio was highest it has been in the last 12 years. That is no small thing. The ratio is a key indicator of investor fear that the market will drop. With this kind of information - quite dramatic information - the prudent investor might get out of the market pronto.

Larry King interviewed Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt last night on how he linked Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) to an alleged prostitution ring. Flynt now says he's got information linking another U.S. Senator to a sex scandal.

FLYNT: We've got good leads. We've got over 300 initially. And they're down to about 30 now which is solid.

KING: When are you going to print?

FLYNT: Well, the last thing now is we don't know if we want to let it to drip, drip, drip or we want to go with everything at once.

KING: You mean you might release 30 names at once?

FLYNT: A good possibility.

KING: Will we be -- I don't want to get into names yet. Will we be shocked?

Weird: Clinton Called DC Madame?http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/188658.phpOK - I don't know what to make of this, so treat it with a large grain of salt and a chortle.

I've been perusing the DC Madame phone records, and whilst looking through the Sept. 1994 bundle, I Googled (202) 789-1234, and got some site called "Background Check." I can't find any other pages, but it seems to list a background check of GW Bush, while including numbers, residents, neighbors, etc. for 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. The number right next to 202-789-1234? William J. Clinton. Now, the number is also the number for the Park Hyatt Hotel, so I don' t know if this is just some weird page, or a hit job on GWB that inadvertently listed something it may not have intended to, or whatever.

She was on the tube this morning pushing the terror threat warnings mighty hard. "Holier than thou" Hannah Storm was rather "cold" to her, I thought. hehe. What do you think, Prissy and Kitty? I've heard some nasty comments about her.

10:21 no wonder one time i couldn't convince a 5 year old that war was sometimes "OK" and was told "no, no war is always wrong" what junk we have been told through so much of our history. so many leaders dividing instead of bothering with attempting diplomacy. all about cash and prejudice

Major bombing threat to New York on Wednesday July 18 -- Please warn the American people RSSNo nameUser ID: 2664117/14/2007 6:07 PMReport abusive post Major bombing threat to New York on Wednesday July 18 -- Please warn the American people Quote

Twelve guys from Israel's Kidon unit are going to target NYC (department stores, Broadway, other locae) with high explosives and possibly a mini-nuke and make it look like al Qaeda terrorists with "Iranian links" are responsible.

The way I was told, it's supposed to be "a dry run" to test warning systems, and this has secretly been given the go-ahead by Chertoff.

If you push this around the Net, I know for sure they'll scramble the show.

Please do it.

I won't hang around in case they trace me before I'm gone.Anonymous CowardUser ID: 2659087/14/2007 6:09 PM Re: Major bombing threat to New York on Wednesday July 18 -- Please warn the American people Quote

Two points.Clinton didn't and wont ever need to call a service for women. The man's a magnet for woman of all ages and races. Only the lonely need to call for the service of a man. I watched the view when the Monica case was on. The woman all agreed that Hillary should leave Bill. Then all started yelling at each other as to who would date Bill first.

Americans and their elected officials continue to believe the lies Bush tells. Thank goodness the world leaders are all in agreement that George W. Bush is a liar and can never be trusted again. So don't look for any success in overseas matters.

Kitty how interesting about the Clinton $. Never defeat, just po'd. What is our true history of why we go to war? I'm thinking Gen Smedly Butler hit the nail on the head a long time ago...

NYT: Muqtada al-Sadr creating 'parallel government' in Iraq

Hey I have an idea...maybe we should create a parallel government here, in the US. We can use these great old papers I know of...like the Declaration of Independence...snark

What you don't read about Sadr in the papers is that he "owns" Sadr city in Iraq and when my soldiers were there, they said ya didn't want go near the place. The people living there back him and quickly shot at Americans coming around. Soldiers I know laughed when they heard "we" were going after him-didn't believe it for one thing-said how can you catch someone the majority population will protect?

Another reason to BRING THEM HOME NOW. Bush/cheney should be ashamed to look our soldiers in the eye.

Off to enjoy a friends garden today, I miss that. But maybe next year;)

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About Me

Think Globally Prosecute Locally
- I grew up in Flatbush, kept my nose clean, went to law school. Now that I am in Chicago and D.C. I have found that the rampant graft and corruption to be a travesty - a travesty of a mockery of a sham of a mockery of a travesty of two mockeries of a sham.
---Favorite quote --- "Conditional love is an oxymoron." - Yours truly